US President Donald Trump said on Tuesday that the sexual misconduct allegations against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh show it’s a “very scary time” in the US – for men.

Trump complained that men whose behaviour was “exemplary” for their entire lives were presumed to be guilty should women accuse them of sexual misconduct.

“It’s a very scary situation when you’re guilty until proven innocent,” Trump told reporters at the White House on Tuesday. “It’s a very scary time for young men in America when you can be guilty of something you may not be guilty of. This is a very difficult time.”

Watch: Kavanaugh and accuser Christine Blasey Ford testify

A California college professor, Christine Blasey Ford, has accused Kavanaugh of sexually assaulting her while the two were in high school in suburban Maryland in the early 1980s.

Ford told the Senate Judiciary Committee that the incident affected her long into adulthood, but Trump and other Republicans have questioned why she didn’t report the attack to authorities soon after it allegedly happened.

Sex crimes experts – including a prosecutor Republicans hired to question Ford at a hearing last week – say it is common for women not to immediately report attacks to authorities and that such delays, even when they are years long, shouldn’t be interpreted as evidence an allegation is false.